The Missing Camper
by RiaJoy
Summary: Rowan Victoria Clare is a rebellious but smart teen at Crystal Cove Preparatory Academy. One night she breaks some school rules and finds herself on a wild adventure in search for someone whom she has never met.
1. Chapter 1

I'm in so much trouble.

Not that that's uncommon for me. I'm a bit of a troublemaker. I have the kind of attitude towards adults that gets most kids kicked out of their schools. You know, authority issues or whatever. I blame my mom and deadbeat father.

See, my mom is the principal at Crystal Cove Preparatory Academy in Newport Beach, CA. It's a super fancy college-prep school that accepts kids in kindergarten and teaches them until they are 16, at which time they are completed with high school and go into some of the best colleges in the nation. My mom is the principal, which is the only reason I can attend. Otherwise my authority issues would've gotten me kicked out many years ago. And my father? Never knew him. Isn't worth thinking about.

I've been in trouble more times than I can remember. Most of my teachers think that I'm going to end up in juvy before I can finish school. Not that they'd tell my mom that. Then they would just lose their jobs. And the trouble I get in isn't illegal, it's just against the school rules. Like be in your dorms after 9, no romantic relationships with fellow Crystal Cove Prep students, and no going out into the state park without a chaperone.

Which brings us to what happened tonight, when I broke all three of those rules.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rowan!" I turned my head during our discussion time in history class towards the guy sitting nest to me. His name was James. He had red hair (a favorite of mine), was 6'2", and was the super popular jock at our school, not exactly a common occurrence at a college prep school. I'd been crushing on him for nearly a year and had never spoken to him except during debate, in which we usually argued. He was not rebellious in the slightest and was very confident in what he believed. I was a hot head when it came to debate, which unfortunately made me lose several debates. I hated losing.

"What?" I asked.

"Meet me by the hole at 7." He winked at me. That ticked me off. First of all, he assumed I didn't have anything better to do than meet with him. Secondly, I hated winks. I got ready to tell him off.

"Um, sure." GOD! I'm so weak. What happened to my rebelliousness? I think I'll put more color in my blonde hair tonight to give me strength.

"Great." He replied. The bell rang. "See ya then." He jumped up and ran out of the room.

A tall, raven haired girl made a beeline to me. This was my best friend and dormmate, Ashley. "Did you just talk to James?" She giggled. Ashley and I are very different, but one thing we have in common is guys. We tend to crush on the same kind.

I stood up next to her, but I am several inches shorter, the first in a long line of differences between us. "Yeah, and I acted like a mooning idiot." I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder. "Do you think it's a trick?"

"What?" Ashley looked genuinely confused as we walked into the bustling hallway. "Why would he trick you?"

"Well, he might think it funny to make me think that he is romantically interested only to have me tutor him in calculus." I explained to her. "He wants to meet by the hole."

"Ooh, that's definitely romantic," Ashley squealed. "No one goes to the hole unless trying to escape the watchful eye of CCPA."

Her comforting didn't help. I spent all day wondering why James would ask me to meet him by the hole. Now, you might be thinking the hole is a hole in the fence surrounding our school, but that's not it. Our school only has fences as boarders. They aren't designed to keep students in so much as to mark where our property ends. And there is a lot of property. Our school is right against the cliffs. The hole is a small hole on the edge of the cliff that one can slip down into and find themselves on a pathway to the ocean. It's definitely a place to escape from CCPA and commonly used as a romantic getaway.

That afternoon I put some turquoise streaks in my hair and donned what I hoped was a cute outfit, jeans, loose yellow button up, and tan combat boots. I came out of the bathroom that Ashley and I shared and showed it to her.

"Oh my god, totes cute Rowan." She squealed. Ashley sat on her bed with all her schoolbooks in front of her. Even with all her girliness (she was currently dressed in a pink maxi dress) there was no way to hide her inner nerd. The good news was that at this school, everyone was a nerd. It opened up other parts of their life since they weren't all assumed to be exactly the same.

"Ashley, say totes again and I'll strangle you," I said with a mock glare. I grabbed my purse and opened the door.

"Love you too Rowan. Don't stay out to late."

I went down to the hole and saw James was already there. He looked pretty simple in his orange and yellow plaid and jeans, but I definitely thought he was attractive. Simple is good.

He noticed me and grinned. "Hey shortcake," he said with a grin.

"Let me get something out here," I said quickly, not allowing him to distract me. "The only reason I came here is because you caught me off guard. Is this some kind of trick or something? And don't call me shortcake."

"You are short though. And trick? What do you mean?" He stepped in and grabbed my hands. "I like you Rowan. All your craziness and paranoia kinda turns me on."

"Gross."

"Shut up," he laughed. "Let's get going so we don't get caught." He suggested. God I wanted to smack the smirk off his face, but instead I pushed in front of him and slipped down the hole first. He followed me quickly and we started our descent to the beach. The evening was cool but not cold, basically perfect date weather. We talked about school, what colleges we wanted to attend (he was a pre-law Harvard guy, I was hoping for NYU and music), and basically anything else we wanted to talk about. It was so comfortable and perfect. I even fake shivered and he offered me his Harvard hoodie, which I took mock-begrudgingly. It was all going perfectly when the craziness broke loose.


End file.
